DOJ, tech firms freeze $3.8M in crypto tied to SE Asian scams

The Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force, working with federal partners and major technology companies, froze more than $3.8 million in cryptocurrency and disrupted about 1.4 million social media and email accounts linked to investment and romance fraud run by organized groups in Southeast Asia.

The operation, called Disruption Week, brought law enforcement and private firms together in Washington, D.C., from May 18 to May 21. Participants included Coinbase, SpaceX, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft and several federal agencies.

Authorities provided information on wallets, domains and accounts to the private sector. Using that data, companies identified suspect wallets and user accounts, then took voluntary actions to interrupt access, suspend accounts and freeze funds. Officials said those steps helped recover or freeze the $3.8 million and supported the identification of suspects.

The coordinated work also led to the arrest of seven individuals in Thailand connected to the networks, according to officials. Law enforcement worked with foreign partners to trace and seize cryptocurrency holdings tied to the schemes.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro wrote that ‘Cyber-enabled and crypto investment fraud is devastating Main Street Americans, wiping out life savings and preying on some of our most vulnerable citizens.’ FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized that public-private partnerships are ‘one of the best tools we have in combatting these illicit actors’ and credited the cooperation with preventing further victimization.

Officials said the targeted groups used social media, email and online advertising to recruit victims into fake investment platforms and crypto schemes. The combined platform-level interruptions and law enforcement investigations aimed to halt ongoing fraud and to gather evidence for prosecutions in the United States and abroad.

Earlier this year, exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken and Binance worked with U.S. and U.K. authorities to flag roughly $45 million linked to crypto fraud and freeze about $12 million. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report lists nearly $11.4 billion in losses to crypto fraud, an increase of about 22% from the previous year.